Variations on a theme

Over a year ago, when Shaanxi Opera House started to prepare a grand celebration for its fifth birthday this year, a number of ideas were suggested and one of them in particular gave the planners goose bumps.

As 2022 marks the 35th anniversary of the first airing of Chinese TV series, Dream of the Red Chamber, a 36-episode series based on the novel written by Cao Xueqin during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the opera house decided to launch a series of events to take audiences down memory lane and showcase different interpretations of the classic novel featuring art troupes from around the country.

On Friday and Saturday, two concerts will be held at the opera house featuring performances by the Xi'an Symphony Orchestra and its chorus in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. Under the baton of conductor Zhang Lie, the concerts will feature well-known music works and songs from the 1987 TV series.

Some of the cast members of the TV series will reunite for the event, including actor-turned-director Ouyang Fenqiang, who played the role of Jia Baoyu, actress Deng Jie, who played the role of Wang Xifeng, actress Guo Xiaozhen, who played the role of Shi Xiangyun, and Gao Liang, who played the role of Jia Lian.

Unfortunately, one of the leading actors, Chen Xiaoxu, who played the role of Lin Daiyu, died of breast cancer at the age of 42 in 2007.Zhang Hailing, who voiced the role for Chen, will join in the reunion in her stead.

Dream of the Red Chamber chronicles the downfall of the Jia family during the Qing era, and is set against the backdrop of the country's social and political upheavals. There are hundreds of characters in the novel, led by the rebellious and pampered young man, Jia Baoyu, and his ill-fated love interest, the melancholy Lin Daiyu.

"The TV series set a benchmark for TV producers in China and viewers of all ages have watched it, since TV stations around the country have replayed it thousands of times," says Cao Jiwen, branding director of Shaanxi Opera House and one of the creative teams behind the venue's fifth birthday celebration. "It's amazing that after 35 years, the influence of the TV series thrives the way it does and continues to grow."

Chinese composer Wang Liping will also join in the celebration during the concerts. As the mastermind behind the original music pieces featured in the 1987 TV series－including Wang Ning Mei and Zang Hua Yin－Wang, now in his 80s, spent four-and-a-half years to finish all 13. His compositions, described by critics as "emotional, beautiful and tragic", is said to capture the spirit of Cao Xueqin's novel perfectly.

"Writing the music score for Dream of the Red Chamber had long been my dream. When I read the novel, I imagined writing music for each of the main characters," said Wang Liping in an earlier interview.

Singer Wu Bixia will also sing at the concerts. Since 2005, Wu has been touring the country performing concerts featuring songs from the 1987 TV series.

"When the TV series first aired, I was about 12 years old. I was born into a musical family and loved to sing. I memorized all the lyrics and melodies of the songs from the TV series," recalls Wu. "I also taught my classmates to sing the songs in school.

"The songs are very catchy and beautiful. They sounded very different compared to other songs at that time. Without a high pitch or any intention to show off the composer's techniques, the songs were very simple but deeply touched my heart," she adds.

The TV series also inspired Wu to read the classic novel. As a teenager at the time, she found it hard to follow at first, mostly because of the lack of drama. However, as the story slowly unfolded, she became ever more engrossed in it. "It's a tragedy, full of beautiful sadness, just like the songs," she says.

According to Cao Jiwen, it was actress Deng who helped make the reunion of the TV show's cast members happen.

In 2020, Deng came to Shaanxi Opera House along with her husband, veteran actor-director Zhang Guoli. Zhang performed in Chang'an, a symphony concert themed on Tang Dynasty (618-907) poetry, at the venue.

"We had a great meeting and the idea of bringing more cast members of the 1987 TV series to the opera house started from there," recalls Cao Jiwen.

Besides the concerts, theatrical productions adapted from the classic novel will be staged at Shaanxi Opera House through February, providing an ongoing celebration of the classic novel for months to come, aiming to not only appeal to nostalgic fans, but also inspire a new generation.

Shanghai Yueju Opera House will stage its version of Dream of the Red Chamber on Jan 26, during the Spring Festival holiday. The version was produced based on the vocal styles of two Yueju Opera masters, Yin Guifang (1919-2000) and Yuan Xuefen (1922-2011), and was premiered by the company in 1999.

According to Sun Xu, director of the performance and marketing department of the company, Dream of the Red Chamber is one of the opera troupe's most performed productions.

In 1958, the company produced its first Yueju Opera production of Dream of the Red Chamber, which achieved huge success. In 1959, the production made its debut in Beijing for the 10th anniversary celebrations of the founding of New China. In 1962, the production was made into a two-episode film featuring the same cast. Since then, different versions of Dream of the Red Chamber have been made and performed by the company.

Yueju Opera is the second-most popular Chinese opera type in the country. The art form, which combines singing, dancing and acting, originated in Zhejiang province and later became a popular art form there and in Shanghai.

"Dream of the Red Chamber is a work that has had a profound influence. Like the 1987 TV series, the Yueju Opera piece is still popular," says Sun, adding that both the company's top performers and younger artists will join in the Xi'an performances.

Besides Yueju Opera, other theatrical productions and adaptations of the classic novel will be staged in Xi'an, including a Chinese play by Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, a dance drama by Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts and a new ballet piece by the National Ballet of China.

According to Cao Jiwen, during the past five years, Shaanxi Opera House has staged over 900 theatrical productions featuring artists from over 40 countries. More than 560,000 audience members have visited the opera house to watch shows and attend public events.

As part of its fifth birthday celebration, it will premiere its production of La Traviata, a three-act opera by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, in November, by working with the National Centre for the Performing Arts.